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Britain’s road to cleaner transport is changing more than what drivers put in their fuel tanks, it’s also changing what they want to see in their driveways.
New industry data shows green cars are making a major comeback, hitting their strongest sales level in two decades as electric vehicles become mainstream.

According to a Reuters report, citing figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), green-tinted car sales surged in 2025, reflecting how the EV transition is reshaping buyer preferences in unexpected ways.

A colour trend no one expected to headline car sales

Car colour isn’t usually treated like a serious market indicator. Most buyers tend to focus on price, fuel costs, reliability, and resale value.

But colour choices can still reveal cultural shifts especially when millions of people start leaning toward the same shades for years at a time.

In recent years, the UK market has been dominated by safe, neutral colours like grey and black. That long-running preference has made the roads look increasingly uniform, with fewer bright or distinctive tones standing out in traffic.

Now, that pattern is showing signs of change, and green is leading the reversal.

Green car sales hit a 20-year high in 2025

The SMMT said British motorists bought 99,793 green cars in 2025, marking the highest annual total in 20 years.

That figure represents a 46.3% jump from 2024, and green cars now account for nearly 5% of all new vehicles sold in the country.

It’s a striking rebound for a colour that has spent much of the past decade on the margins of mainstream taste.

For an industry where consumer habits tend to move slowly, a year-on-year rise of that scale signals something more than a passing fashion moment.

Why EVs are changing what “green” means to drivers

The surge isn’t being driven by a sudden obsession with bold paintwork. Instead, it appears tied to what green now represents in the public mind.

As the UK accelerates its push to decarbonise transport, many drivers increasingly associate the colour green with environmental progress and lower-emission choices.

That shift in symbolism has added a new layer to the buying decision, especially for customers choosing electric models and wanting their purchase to visually reflect that change.

The EV transition, in other words, isn’t just influencing what people drive. It’s influencing what they want their car to say about them.

Electrified vehicles now make up nearly half the UK market

The SMMT’s figures come as electrified cars continue to take up a larger share of the British market.

According to the industry body, electrified vehicles, including battery-electric, hybrid-electric, and plug-in hybrid models, reached a market share of more than 48% last year in the UK.

That growth has been supported by national climate ambitions aimed at reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

As more households shift away from traditional petrol and diesel, the “new normal” of what a typical car looks like, and what buyers expect from brands, is changing quickly.

Battery-electric green cars saw the sharpest jump

One of the most notable details in the SMMT update was the performance of green battery-electric cars specifically.

Sales of green-tinted battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) rose to 23,249 units, with the SMMT noting that this figure nearly doubled compared to the previous year.

That suggests green is not only gaining popularity overall, it’s rising fastest among the very segment reshaping the future of the car market.

Car makers are expanding choices as demand shifts

The trend is also being shaped by supply. If manufacturers offer more variety, buyers have more freedom to move away from the “default” neutral shades.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said carmakers are adjusting to what customers want, explaining that: manufacturers are responding by expanding model ranges, colours, and finishes, according to the statement cited in the report.

That matters because colour options are not just aesthetic, they’re also tied to production planning, trims, and the way models are marketed.

As EV lineups expand across more price ranges, the industry appears increasingly willing to take colour seriously again.

The background: a long era of grey roads and safe choices

For years, the UK has been in a “monochrome” era of car buying. Neutral tones have dominated, partly because they’re viewed as practical and easy to resell.

Grey has become especially common, blending into a wider trend of minimalist design across consumer products.

Even some car executives have publicly expressed frustration at how narrow the colour palette has become. In 2023, Fiat CEO Olivier Francois launched a campaign pushing for brighter, happier colours, a move that highlighted just how uniform the market had grown.

Now, the rise of green suggests the industry may finally be seeing a shift away from that long-running pattern.

Grey still rules the road-for now

Despite green’s surge, Britain’s favourite colour choice remains unchanged at the top.

The SMMT said grey stayed the most popular car colour for the eighth consecutive year.

It was followed by black, which continues to be a leading preference for executive and premium vehicles. Blue and white also remained among the most common choices.

That stability shows the UK market isn’t undergoing a full colour revolution overnight. Instead, it suggests a slow but measurable expansion in consumer tastes, with green emerging as the standout mover.

What this means for buyers, brands, and the future market

The comeback of green might sound like a small lifestyle story, but it has wider implications for how the industry is evolving.

For buyers, it reflects how EV ownership is becoming part of personal identity. As electric vehicles become more common, drivers may look for visual cues that distinguish their cars from conventional models.

For manufacturers, the trend creates pressure to diversify paint options, special editions, and finish styles, especially as competition in the EV space intensifies.

For the wider market, it shows that the transition to low-emission transport is influencing consumer behaviour in ways beyond fuel type or charging infrastructure. It is reshaping tastes, branding, and even what “modern” looks like on British streets.

The UK’s EV transition is changing more than engines

Britain’s shift toward electrified transport is often measured in charging points, emissions targets, and sales charts.

But the return of green cars, at their highest volume in 20 years, is a reminder that cultural change shows up in everyday choices too.

Even as grey continues to dominate the roads, the growing popularity of green suggests British motorists are beginning to embrace a new kind of visibility: one that reflects a country moving toward a lower-carbon future, one driveway at a time.

 

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